The present invention relates to new agents for preventing/treating diabetes, more concretely pharmaceutical compositions comprising a combination of a compound represented by the following formula (I) with a specified medicament(s), and particularly drugs for preventing or treating diabetes.
Diabetes is metabolic disorders caused by an absolute or a relative shortage of insulin that is only hypoglycemic hormone, and has a main feature of continuous hyperglycemia. The continuity of hyperglycemic status not only makes the metabolic disorders caused by a shortage of insulin worse but also causes microangiopathy in a kidney, nerves, retinas, and the like; and macroangiopathy such as arteriosclerosis. As a result, such a status seriously spoils a healthy life. Therefore, the object of controlling diabetes is to prevent the occurrence of the chronic complication and slow the progression thereof by improving the hyperglycemic status.
Hypoglycemic agents such as insulin preparations, insulin secretagogues, insulin sensitizers and α-glucosidase inhibitors have been widely applied as the method for the clinical treatment. Each of these hypoglycemic agents has many problems though the availability of such agents has been confirmed. For example, in the case of the diabetic patients whose pancreatic insulin secretion ability seriously lowers, effectiveness of insulin secretagogues and insulin sensitizers is diminished. Similarly, in the case of the diabetic patients whose insulin resistance is significantly high, effectiveness of insulin preparations and insulin secretagogues is diminished.
It is thought to be useful that agents having different action mechanisms are combined to use in order to complement the above disadvantages of the hypoglycemic agents. However, the use of the combination of the existing hypoglycemic agents has a limitation in improving the hyperglycemic status in point of corresponding to various pathology of diabetes.
As one of the main actions of insulin relating to the hypoglycemic actions, insulin has the action which reinforces the sugar transportation ability of peripheral cells and, as a result, lowers the blood glucose level. The compound of the formula (I) described in the patent application (WO02/44180) according to the present applicant has the effect of reinforcing the sugar transportation and is useful for treating the diabetic patients. Namely, the compound of the formula (I) is the compound which lowers the blood glucose level by reinforcing the sugar transportation activity of the peripheral cells, and can be oral administered agents having a new action mechanism.
Further, though the effect of reinforcing the sugar transportation of the compound of the formula (I) has been described in the patent application (WO02/44180), the combinational effect thereof with the other agent(s) has not been described.